Yank in The Hairy Ape Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Yank in The Hairy Ape - Essay Example He does not reveal much about his roots, but it is evident that his childhood was painful. In the pauses between his parents’ incessant fighting during which furniture got broken, he was made to attend church every Sunday morning, only to be forced to run away after his mother’s death, when he could not handle any more of his father’s beatings. His troublesome beginnings have taught him that he will be forced to fend for himself in this cruel world. However, since man is a social being and thrives on the interaction with other members of the society, he needs to belong. Yank equates this highly relevant notion of belonging with power and importance. When he believes he belongs to something, he gains strength and feels almost invincible, but when he is rejected by a group, he feels terribly weak. He also associates this sense of belonging with the usefulness and functionality of an individual. For example, the firemen belong to the ship due to the fact that they a re essentially responsible for the proper functioning of the ship. Despite the fact that he believes himself to be essential for this, the fact of the matter is that industrialization has reduced the human worker into a machine.